| Project: Future Costs of Childhood Obesity: Estimates and Implications |
| Award Year: 2004 |
| Amount of award, fiscal 2004: $150,000.00 |
| Institution: University of Michigan |
| Principal Investigator: Matthew Davis |
| Status: Completed |
| Detailed Objective: This study will develop national estimates of the long-term costs of youths being overweight. Such estimates will be useful in informing decisions regarding investments in programs for overweight prevention and treatment, as well as related research initiatives. This project will develop novel probabilistic models for estimating the future costs related to childhood obesity. Future costs consist of long-term (25-year) direct costs (health care) and indirect costs (missed school, missed work, disability) related to youths being overweight. Estimates of direct costs will be based on inflation-adjusted health care expenditure data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for 2000-2002 for children aged 10-18 in age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) categories, combined with corresponding MEPS-linked National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data for adults aged 19-35, supplemented by age-specific BMI prevalence data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Estimates of indirect costs will be based on costs associated with missed school days for children from MEPS, and for increased sick leave and disability for persons aged 21-35 using MEPS-linked NHIS data, supplemented with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). |
| Topic: Obesity |
| Dataset: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) |
Output:
Davis, M., and A. Gebremariam. Economic Long-Term Impacts of Interventions Aimed at Preventing or Reducing Obesity Among Children, Contractor and Cooperator Report No. 62, USDA, ERS, September 2010. |